Your Moving Guide for Phoenix, Arizona and Surrounding Communities

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Are you moving to the Phoenix area? You're not alone. Bob McClay, reporter for KTAR-FM, a Phoenix-area radio station, writes, "After a slowdown during the recession, the influx of people moving to the Phoenix area seems to have resumed." His article notes that the American Moving and Storage Association ranks Phoenix second on its list of top cities people are moving to. Only Washington, D.C., is currently attracting more new residents.

Great weather, exciting employment opportunities and inexpensive housing are some of the reasons why the Phoenix real estate market is heating up. McClay reports that for every home listed for sale, there are about 20 people ready to buy it. If the Phoenix area is in your relocation plans, you may need to consider renting or downsizing to a smaller home until you can find your housing ideal. In that case, you may have more stuff than you have space for. Don't despair or sell your things at a loss in a garage sale. Phoenix and its surrounding communities have plenty of self storage facilities, many of them air conditioned, where you can stow your stuff while you look for your dream home.

To help in your search, here are five of the most popular communities you might want to consider.

Phoenix

With a population of 1.4 million, Phoenix is America's sixth-largest city and the urban heart of the southwestern Sunbelt. It's part of Maricopa County, an area about the size of the entire state of New Hampshire. Greater Phoenix, which includes a number of communities, has a population of nearly 4.37 million and covers about 2,000 square miles.

Other than occasional (and welcome) summer rain, you can look forward to sunshine during 85 percent of the daylight hours. It's important to note that Phoenix and most of the rest of Arizona don't observe daylight savings time.

Urban Phoenix is divided into 15 villages. Within that selection, you'll find single-family homes, condos, lofts and townhomes ranging from the high $40,000s in Maryvale to $2.5 million and up in Paradise Valley, according to Toma Partners, a real estate company.

Gilbert

Originally a farming community and once known as the Hay Capital of the World, Gilbert has transitioned into a young, family-oriented and affluent town with a growth rate of 500 percent between 1990 and 2005, according to About.com guide Judy Henning. Gilbert is located in the southeast part of the Greater Phoenix area in what is generally called the East Valley, which is approximately 20 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. One of its main attractions is the SanTan Village Regional Shopping Center, a complex with more than 100 stores anchored by Dillard's and Macy's. Online real estate source Trulia notes that, in 2012, "the median sales price for homes in Gilbert, AZ, for November 12 to January 13 was $225,000 based on 1,593 home sales.

Glendale

You'll find Glendale just west of Phoenix. Median home prices between November 2012 and January 2013 were listed at $137,000 on Trulia. ArizonaKey.com calls Glendale "a small but lively community that attracts visitors from all over the globe, who come to experience the area's natural beauty, annual events and unique attractions." According to GoGlendale.com, those attractions include:

The Deer Valley Rock Art Center, home to more than 1,500 ancient petroglyphs

University of Phoenix Stadium, where the Arizona Cardinals play

Saguaro Ranch Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

WaterDance Fountains at Westgate City Center, the site of six-million-dollar fountains designed by the creators of the Bellagio display in Las Vegas

Glendale will host Super Bowl 2015

Mesa

According to VisitMesa.com, when you live in Mesa, "you'll have easy access to the area's most popular natural attractions, including Superstition Mountains, Apache Trail, Salt and Verde Rivers, Usery Mountain Regional park and area lakes." All this is located 12 miles from downtown Phoenix. Mesa is also home to the Arizona Museum of Natural History and the Mesa Arts Center, which hosts local and national theater, concerts and art exhibits. Trulia lists the median Mesa home prices between November 2012 and January 2013 at $146,400.

Scottsdale

A frequent name on lists of best places to live in America, Scottsdale is known for its upscale lifestyle, low crime rates, highly-rated schools and expensive resorts. Located 25 minutes northeast of Phoenix, Scottsdale covers about 185 square miles and has a population of 215,000 people, 22 percent of whom are older than 60. For a city of modest size, CityTownInfo.com notes that "Scottsdale provides a good assortment of arts and entertainment offerings." This includes two casinos, the Desert Botanical Garden, the Main Street Arts District, Old Town Scottsdale, the Pueblo Grande Museum and Cultural Park, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. If you're thinking of making your home in Scottsdale, bring money. Trulia reports that as of February 17, 2013, the average listing price for a home was $874,526.

More About Storage In Phoenix

If you're planning a move to Arizona, don't put your winter gear on Craigslist. You'll have plenty of opportunity to use it. People who don't live in Arizona tend to envision a stereotypical desert-lots of flat, sandy, cactus-studded terrain punctuated by the occasional mesa. That Arizona does exist mostly in the extreme southwest along the Mexican border. But you'll also find forests and mountains and winter temperatures that can dip into the teens in the interior uplands around Flagstaff. It might even come as a surprise to learn that Arizona's Sunrise Mountain recorded record snowfalls of 400.9 inches in the winter of 1972-1973, according to the Arizona Climate Office.

Are you thinking about moving to Arizona and wondering about temporary self storage? There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a self storage facility here in the Grand Canyon State. The extreme weather conditions can wreak havoc on your possessions, so you'll want to make certain your self storage unit provides air conditioning. Hey, you don't want that expensive leather sofa looking like it spent a week in the Petrified Forest National Park without water or sunscreen.

Is Arizona calling? Maybe you've found a job or are being transferred. Maybe you've decided to retire in the Southwestern Sunbelt. Whatever draws you to the Grand Canyon State, you're going to love it here. A few words to the wise are in order to help you have a smooth relocation.

Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, is also home to nearly 70,000 small business employers. According to Small Business Chronicle, all businesses encounter four distinct trends: slowdown, bottom, growth and peak. Whether you have a small office or a large factory, your Phoenix business will go through these cycles, too.

Storing your personal items in Phoenix, Ariz. presents a unique challenge: how do you counteract the weather conditions specific to the area? Hot summers, cold winter nights and humidity make it important to take special steps during the storage process. Learning about Phoenix weather and its impacts, as well as implementing some simple storage tips, can help you keep your belongings safe during storage.